


Bloody Fools

by Lilian_Silver



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 10:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18050738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilian_Silver/pseuds/Lilian_Silver
Summary: Prompt: “Did you just stick your fingers in my mouth?“Ok so my original idea for this prompt was that Draco would say this line to Hermione’s Dad when he went in for a teeth cleaning. They would have to already be together if that was the case, and I kind of hate writing fics where they are already together. Alternatively, I thought of having them be in some situation where they’re friends and they’ve been drinking, and Hermione offers to demonstrate muggle dentistry using her parent’s tools, so this would happen in her childhood home. So, I conceptualized a reason for them to both be in her childhood home, but then…It ended up going way too somber for me to even time jump and turn it into a drunken night, so this is the story you get instead. Maybe I’ll write that dentist thing and this actual line into another fic at some point, but for now, here is what it inspired!Also, I don’t know if the term “fast burn” has been coined, but that’s what I’m calling this :DOriginal tumblr post here: https://liliansilverstuff.tumblr.com/post/182966096106/dramione-for-40-did-you-just-stick-your-fingers





	Bloody Fools

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “Did you just stick your fingers in my mouth?“
> 
> Ok so my original idea for this prompt was that Draco would say this line to Hermione’s Dad when he went in for a teeth cleaning. They would have to already be together if that was the case, and I kind of hate writing fics where they are already together. Alternatively, I thought of having them be in some situation where they’re friends and they’ve been drinking, and Hermione offers to demonstrate muggle dentistry using her parent’s tools, so this would happen in her childhood home. So, I conceptualized a reason for them to both be in her childhood home, but then…
> 
> It ended up going way too somber for me to even time jump and turn it into a drunken night, so this is the story you get instead. Maybe I’ll write that dentist thing and this actual line into another fic at some point, but for now, here is what it inspired!
> 
> Also, I don’t know if the term “fast burn” has been coined, but that’s what I’m calling this :D
> 
> Original tumblr post here: https://liliansilverstuff.tumblr.com/post/182966096106/dramione-for-40-did-you-just-stick-your-fingers

He stood outside of her house, knowing in that moment that there was no going back. His stunning spells had sent Yaxley and Dolohov tumbling to their deaths, and there’d be no way to explain it to the Dark Lord.

Lifting his wand, he aimed it at the small muggle home and muttered, “homenem revelio.”

Just one person? But where were her parents?

And why was she here alone? Surely Potter and Weasley would have insisted on her being by their sides at all times? Tossers.

He walked slowly to the door, expecting protective wards of some kind. When he found none, he quickened his pace, casting a purposeless alohamora because she had apparently left the front door unlocked. Pushing the door open, he stepped into an almost silent house, with the exception of what had to be Hermione’s faint crying from an upstairs room.

Casting a cushioning charm on his shoes, he made his way up the stairs.

He followed the sound and was sure he’d been right about who had been crying when he saw the multitude of books lining the walls of her bedroom.

There she lay, curled in a ball on her bed facing away from the door, her wand having rolled to the floor behind her. Cautiously, he retrieved it, which had been his plan in the first place, only he hadn’t imagined it would have been so easy.

He, Yaxley and Dolohov had been sent on a simple reconnaissance mission. They weren’t to return until they had located Hermione Granger’s family. He took a deep breath, hoping Yaxley and Dolohov’s deaths would not be detected any time soon… he’d stunned them over water.

As he watched her small, heaving figure, he furrowed his brow. Why was she crying? Surely her parents were still alive?

When he’d been given this order, he’d seen it as a moment to decide. Which side would he be on?

He’d wanted so badly to be on her side. For so long. He’d taken this opportunity to seal it as his fate. The only hurdle now would be to somehow alert her to his presence without her finding a way to kill him. He was no idiot, however. He knew full well that she might even use wandless magic to stun him after what he’d done. Regretfully, he raised his wand to her sobbing figure.

“Petrificus totalis”

She froze, and he moved around quickly to kneel in front of her.

“Granger, don’t be alarmed, I’m not here to hurt you. I… I apologize for needing to do it this way, but frankly I feared for my life at what you might do if you saw me walk into your bedroom.”

She stared back, unblinking, because that was clearly all she was able to do. He wondered what must be going through her mind and hoped he wasn’t giving her a heart attack.

“I’ve defected, I’m in complete defiance of the Dark Lord’s wishes right now. In fact I killed two fellow death eaters who were sent here with me to locate your parents and put a trace on them so that we could utilize them at a later time.”

He eyed her warily, knowing that he couldn’t receive a response but needed to say enough so that he could unfreeze her without too much of a struggle.

“I realize that you hate me with every fiber of your Being, and I truly do not blame you. I confess I have felt the same about you for most of the time we’ve known each other, but I was wrong. I was so wrong, Granger.”

He choked on her name and looked away, hitting a clenched fist against the side of her bed. The emotion welling up inside of him caught him off guard. He hadn’t dared let any of it out since that day in the bathroom when Potter had walked in.

Now tears fell down his cheeks and he brushed them angrily away before continuing. When he spoke again it was in a much softer voice, clearly teetering on the edge of breaking down.

“He threatened my family, Granger. He forced me to take on the task of killing Dumbledore. I should have gone directly to the headmaster to ask for help, but I was too scared. He was torturing my Mother every day that I did not achieve the task. I-“

He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a full sob. As he did so, he unknowingly released the spell on Hermione. Out of the corner of his tear-filled eyes, he saw her movement and jolted back from her quickly, but she reached out both hands in response and said, “No it’s alright! I… I’m not going to hex you.”

She wiped the tears from her own face, having been stuck mid-cry for some minutes. They stared at one another for a long time, both clearly doing a series of mental acrobatics to try and decide how to behave in the extremely implausible situation.

“I suppose you’re trying to work out whether this is some sort of trap,” he said, a bitterness in his voice that he could not disguise.

“You would think me a fool if I wasn’t,” she bit back.

He rolled his eyes. “I suppose that’s true.”

Suddenly, her eyes went wide with an idea. “I have something that can help!”

Reaching into the drawer next to her bed, she pulled out a loudly decorated envelope. “Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes Truth Strips. It’s a prototype but this is the version they landed on. It creates a similar effect to veritaserum but only for a minute or two,” she said, holding one out to him. It was a small orange dot or liquid pressed flat between two pieces of clear plastic.

“Peel the top and put it on your tongue, then tell me all of that again.”

He reached forward hesitantly and took it, then proceeded to follow her instructions.

The words flowed from him with far less emotion than they had previously, a stoic reporting of just the facts, but the words remained the same and he saw her intake of breath as she accepted the truth.

“But… why come to me? You… hate me.”

“I don’t really hate you. Far from it. I’ve been harboring an all-consuming crush on you for years. That’s why I’ve always been awful to you. My Father would disown me for even looking at you. It was self-preservation, but it’s ended up eating me alive from the inside instead. FUCK, when will this shit wear off, Granger?! Surely it’s been a minute?”

Her voice was small when she responded, “I said a minute or two.” Her chest was heaving as she took in the information. He averted his gaze and stared around her room.

“Do you have enough books, Granger?” he said, shaking his head, “You can take the swot out of Hogwarts, but you-”

“Draco.”

He froze. She had never used his given name before.

“Please come here. Sit next to me.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he rose from the floor imperiously and sat down on the bed next to her, still keeping his gaze on anything but her face. Suddenly he felt something warm envelop his hand, and he looked down, shocked to see her fingers interlaced with his.

They sat like that for a while before she took a deep breath and spoke.

“I just removed myself from my parent’s memories and sent them into hiding abroad under fake names.”

He turned his head swiftly, meeting her tear-filled eyes.

“You might not be able to reverse that spell, Granger!”

She was nodding before he’d finished the sentence, her eyes welling and a full sob overtaking her. “I know.” He let out a soft scoff and put an arm around her, pulling her head to his chest. She reached her other arm around his waist and held tight.

“Why are you always so bloody brave, Granger?”

She continued to cry into his chest, but when she finally regained the ability to speak, she pulled back to look into his eyes and said, “you were pretty brave to come here tonight like you did.”

His eyes widened as he nodded. “Brave… or foolish beyond all reason.”

She shrugged. “Maybe they’re the same thing.”

Their eyes met. “What you did was smart, Granger. I don’t think you have a foolish bone in your body, you’re always bloody brilliant,” he said with a touch of disdain, but mostly admiration.

She raised her eyebrows. When she spoke, her voice was almost a whisper. “Oh trust me, I can be quite foolish.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

She glanced down at his lips for the briefest moment and then looked back up at his eyes and nodded, her lips parting slightly as she leaned towards him. He couldn’t move at all, a sense of disbelief flooding through his entire being as he watched her close the distance between them. Their lips met slowly, softly. So great was his shock that he hardly moved to kiss her back. She did not seem to mind, however. Her lips were like salve on a wound as she moved over to his cheek and placed another soft, warm kiss there, before lifting one of his hands to her mouth and kissing him there as well. He gazed fearfully into her eyes as she did so.

“You’re right, Granger,” he said with a nod, “you are a bloody fool.”


End file.
